The fighting outside Piantou Pass lasted for one day and one night.
Zhu Feng stood on the bright tower of the northern city wall of Pianguan. The rain kept falling, hitting his armor. He thought about it for a long time, but he still didn't understand why this battle took so long.
Didn't we agree to attack the camp? We should come back after the attack.
But the thousands of cavalry sent out are still wandering around outside, and there is no mention of encountering the enemy head-on. The battle seems to have been fought all day and night, but nothing seems to have happened.
"Zhijie, why are you hanging out in the rain? Come in and talk." Wang Qiong chatted with Liu Jin in the Ming Building for half an hour. When he came back, he found Zhu Feng drowned outside and couldn't help calling out from a distance.
Zhu Feng then returned to the place where there was a tile covering his head.
The attendant next to him wanted to help him take off his armor, but he raised his hand and said: "The war is not over, and the armor will never leave your body."
"hehe."
Liu Jin couldn't help but laugh after hearing such silly words.
Wang Qiong asked someone to pour a cup of hot tea for Zhu Feng and comforted him: "...It's okay now, which means nothing will happen. It's probably because the barbarians retreated in the face of difficulties, but some people still think that there is the possibility of making progress and making contributions."
Feeling mischievous, I chased him for dozens of miles, guessing that all the people from all walks of life would be back by nightfall."
"Um."
Although Zhu Feng had many things on his mind and anticipated many possibilities, he had to listen to Wang Qiong.
Because using his brain is too much work for him, he still likes to empty his mind and go out in the rain to calm down.
Otherwise, when a war breaks out, your whole body will be filled with heat.
However, Liu Jin hurriedly poured a cup of hot tea for Wang Qiong and asked: "Wang Zhongcheng, do you think it will be a good news?"
Wang Qiong glanced at Liu Jin.
For Wang Qiong and Zhu Feng, after experiencing the Ningyuan War, they have almost calmed down about this kind of tug of war with the Tatar army, and they did not say how big a victory they must achieve.
But Liu Jin was different. After all, this was Liu Jin's first decent battle, and Liu Jin very much hoped for a "clear victory."
Wang Qiong said: "Whether it's a victory or not depends on whether there is contact. If we just drive away the barbarians, we won't be able to report the victory."
"Uh..." Liu Jin was embarrassed.
Emotions have made me excited all day and night for nothing? The Northwest War mobilized so many people, but there was still no contact? Then it still needs to be fought for a day and a night? No wonder the Anbian Marquis ran out to get wet in the rain.
"The heat in my heart is really hard to calm down. Why don't we let our family go out and get wet in the rain?" Liu Jin said, as if she really wanted to get up and walk to the door.
Wang Qiong stopped him with a smile, asked him to sit down again, pointed to the sky outside and said: "Neither we nor the Hulu can fight head-on today. Let's wait for the result first."
…
…
Just as Wang Qiong expected.
Before dark, everyone came back.
The result is...hard to describe.
Li Wei was the first to return with his troops, but he was the one who sent the troops the farthest away. After Li Wei came back, he complained: "Before dawn, I led the Erlangs out for hundreds of miles, but there was not even a shadow of a turtle bastard."
See, the camp is not here, who said the Tatars are here? Those sentinels should die! It makes the city uneasy these days!"
Liu Jin asked hurriedly: "Are there no Tatars?"
This was unacceptable to Liu Jin.
The intelligence clearly stated that the entire north was occupied by Tatars. It seemed as if the Tatars were about to attack the border with a large army at any moment. However, after the troops left the fortress, they did not encounter even a Tatar sentry?
So the previous information was a joke?
Zhu Feng asked: "Is it possible that the Tatars were indeed active around Pianguan before, but then... left?"
"Where are you going?" Liu Jin asked quickly.
"This..." Zhu Feng couldn't answer.
When Chen Xun, who sent troops on the other side, came back, it had been dark for an hour, and the rain outside had not stopped, but Chen Xun brought back the results of the battle.
"You lived up to your expectations!" Chen Xun jumped off his horse and went to the General Military Mansion. A group of people came over holding umbrellas.
Li Ao was surprised and said: "Old Chen, did you meet the main force of the Tatars while walking on both wings?"
"I didn't see the main force, but they killed three Tatars, three heads... three real heads!" Chen Xun looked excited, as if he had killed three thousand people.
Liu Jin was originally excited, waiting for Chen Xun to report a big victory, but when he heard that there were only three heads, the smile on his face almost froze.
"Not bad, not bad, pretty good." Li Tao was envious. "I'm taking the right path and haven't met a single Tatar. It would be nice if I saw a few herdsmen."
Several people stared at Li Na.
My heart said, what do you mean?
Do you still want to kill Liang and take advantage of the success?
Chen Xun hurriedly explained: "I am killing serious Tatars."
Liu Jin smiled bitterly in his heart, how could he encounter "irregular" Tatars? What kind of unorthodox method could they use?
…
…
People from all walks of life came back, and peace returned to the city.
As if this night attack had never happened before, the officers and generals in the room looked a little serious, because everyone felt that this battle seemed a little different.
Li Nuo said: "Marquis Anbian, I dare to ask you, is this really calculated by Master Zhang Xian?"
"Huh?" Zhu Feng didn't know how to answer.
Wang Qiong said this, not me. Why are you asking me?
Wang Qiong asked: "Why, in your opinion, driving away the enemy invaders is just a waste of time? Doesn't this credit count as merit?"
"Alas!" Li Na sighed heavily, "credit is credit, but...why is it different from before...?"
The officers and generals present also looked at each other in confusion.
They also had the same doubts in their hearts.
Look at the previous two battles, Piantouguan and Ningyuan. In the first battle, we won a great victory with 3,000 people. In the second battle, even though it was a little bit close, nearly 1,000 Tatars were captured and killed. How could it be replaced by us... Go out and have a hard time
When you come back, you only killed three people? They are not necessarily genuine Tatars. Maybe they are killing good people and taking credit?
Wang Qiong asked: "How much have we lost?"
All the officers and generals present looked at Chen Xun.
They had never considered this issue before. Logically speaking, if you brought one or two thousand cavalry out and only killed three people, it shouldn't be a loss, right?
But when they saw the troubled look in Chen Xun's eyes, they knew that things were not that simple.
Chen Xundao said: "One of them broke... he fell off his horse and fell on a stone. Just then a Tatar came over... and chopped him off, but also brought his head back..."
Liu Jin frowned and said: "Uncle Wu Ping, how about you tell stories and write plays? How can a dead person die in such a bizarre and tortuous way? You did a pretty good job of catching him!"
"ah?"
Chen Xun didn't expect Liu Jin to speak so harshly, without a single curse word, but it made him lose face.
This is because they don’t understand the character of these East Palace eunuchs. They usually think about how to please the young prince and how to scheming. They can’t teach the prince bad by saying unpleasant words. So when it comes to studying how to curse people quietly, Liu Jin
Several of them are industry experts.
"Maybe..." After all, Li Hao has been working with Chen Xun for half a year, and now he wants to say a few words for Chen Xun, "The dead guy, his ideas are so small?"
Liu Jin couldn't help it anymore and scolded her on the spot: "We have finally heard it. People have great victories, and one victory involves thousands or hundreds of people. Now, if we have a victory, we only have three? One of us will die? This is so embarrassing."
Report it to the superior?"
Li Wei looked embarrassed and said: "Speaking of it, it is really a little different. Maybe the purpose of Master Zhang Xian is not to kill a few more Tatars, but to restore the stability of Pianguan before Old Minister Qin comes over?"
A group of people looked at Wang Qiong and Zhu Feng again.
That look seemed to be questioning.
Was that the war planned by Zhang Zhou? Why didn’t we get the same treatment as Wang Weining and Zhu Zhijie when it was planned by Zhang Zhou? We were given three thousand cavalry to go out of the city and then came back lonely?
Wang Qiong's face was somewhat lost.
After all, he is the most important governor now. The civil officials are headed by him. At this time, he needs to come out to calm people. He raised his voice and said: "What's wrong with the third level? Is it affecting the performance? Or are you not going to report it?
Are you willing to endure it like this? But please make it clear, if you don’t succeed this time, you may not know when the Hulu will come again next time!”
"this……"
A group of generals looked at each other again.
Although it was a bit embarrassing to only kill three Tartars, it was better than nothing. Mosquito legs are not meat?
Wang Qiong said: "You are so accustomed to thinking that every battle in the northwest can produce earth-shattering momentum? The most important thing in the defense of the northwest is stability. Whether it is your majesty or the civil servants and generals of the DPRK and China, what you want to see is
The border is stable and the people hope to live and work in peace and contentment. If as a general, you are here just to achieve great military exploits, then go back and guard the capital as soon as possible!"
Li Wei smiled bitterly and said: "Wang Zhongcheng, don't be angry. In fact, we all have the desire to make contributions. Who is not a hot-blooded son of the Ming Dynasty?"
Chen Xundao said: "Actually, Wang Zhongcheng is right. If we stay in Pianguan from now on, does that mean that we will have no chance to make contributions in the future? There is Master Zhang Xian in the court who can do calculations, and there are also famous generals like An Bianhou. Tartar
Zixin was defeated, and now that their internal fighting has not subsided, from now on we will just stay here and face the earth with our backs to the sky?"
When Liu Jin heard this, his eyes widened and he said with a sarcastic smile: "Hey, I heard you guys are very good at fighting. Will you be able to rush to the front when we send troops to the grassland in the future?"
"Of course." Even though Chen Xun knew this was bragging, he still had to respond.
No matter how incompetent Liu Jin is, he is still a guard eunuch sent by the emperor to represent the emperor.
Zhu Feng said with a sad look on his face: "Just don't let the Tatars come again. We'll stay here until the court changes the garrison."
Suddenly Zhu Feng became the target of public criticism again.
The generals below also heard it, and it turned out that the famous general in our eyes was a powerful man who only wanted to be an idler.
Others are waiting to make great achievements, but you are thinking of changing garrison. Does this mean you want to return to the capital and live a stable life?
Wang Qiong said: "Since you all have the heart to serve the country on the battlefield, Your Majesty will definitely be satisfied with you. Now the Tatar Central Military Tent is within the Hetao. When the Qin Platform reaches Pianguan, a war to suppress the trap will begin.
, you will then have the opportunity to realize your ambitions."
"Suppression?"
Chen Xun had been shouting slogans loudly just now, but when he heard that troops were going to be sent to the river, his face clearly said, "Whoever wants to go will go, but I won't go."
Liu Jin said: "Uncle Wu Ping, there are opportunities, but you think there are too few opportunities? It's okay. Let's eliminate the trap first, and then we will seal the wolf and live in Xu. There is no ambiguity at all."
"hehe."
Chen Xun smiled bitterly and suddenly looked at Zhu Feng with sympathetic eyes.
It seems that he now feels that the Anbian Marquis is still "aware of current affairs". It would be good to change the garrison and return to the capital to live a stable life at this time.
Wang Qiong didn't want to listen to the nonsense of these veterans in the army anymore. He was thinking, if we want to go to war, can we negotiate with you? When the time comes, we will send troops, and you will have to go even if you don't want to go!
"Everyone, since the war is over and it's time to achieve victory, have any cattle or sheep been captured?" Wang Qiong asked.
"No." Chen Xun said.
"There are always horses, right?" Wang Qiong continued to ask.
"Two... horses, and one ran away..."
Chen Xun was also embarrassed.
It is said that three Tatars were killed. If the three Tatars didn't even have horses, wouldn't it mean that they would tell others that they were killing good people and taking credit for their merits?
Now at least we have the Tatar war horses as circumstantial evidence. Look, we are really killing "serious" Tatars.
"Let's play." Wang Qiong said, "I will wait until Pianguan, which can be regarded as a victory. I will reward the three armies. After Qin Zhitai arrives, we will discuss the method of sending troops!"
"hehe."
Several big guys present were smiling bitterly.
I was thinking, why does this sound so awkward?
…
…
The military meeting ends.
Liu Jin signed the memorial to Jie and returned to the guest room at the back with a sad look on his face.
Zhu Feng followed in and saw Liu Jin looking a little strange and said: "Since it is a victory, why does Mr. Liu mean to look like this?"
Liu Jin said helplessly: "General Xiao Zhu, you are a man who has made great achievements. You don't understand the pain in the hearts of small people like us, so you just said that the prince has high hopes for our family coming to the northwest. What kind of war situation does it give our family?"
, we need to go to the capital as soon as possible and write to the Prime Minister to inform him. You said today is a good day, how can our family tell the prince?"
"oh."
Only then did Zhu Feng understand why Liu Jin was so distressed.
Not only because Liu Jin himself was pursuing great achievements, but also because there was a "spurring" person behind Liu Jin, that is, the prince of the dynasty.
"Then Eunuch Liu must tell the truth truthfully." Zhu Feng reminded.
"Ah? General Xiao Zhu, what are you talking about? Even if you write a letter to the prince, you don't have to be too responsible, but our family still can't do the deception. We will do what we should do... It means that we can only send troops to suppress the trap.
Only then can we have the opportunity to establish great achievements, right?"
Liu Jin looked eager.
He originally thought that he would stay at Piantou Pass, waiting for the soldiers to perform meritorious service, and he could just follow suit and take advantage of the victory.
Isn't this the method that Zhang Yong used to perform meritorious deeds with Ning Yuan at Piantou Pass?
Why do I have to go out with the army, even enter the grassland, and take such big risks?
Zhu Feng said: "I don't know how your majesty arranges it. I just follow orders. Brother Zhang told me before leaving that he asked me to listen to Mr. Qin and Mr. Wang, and I will do as he is told."
"You are really... obedient." Liu Jin unconsciously wanted to ridicule Zhu Feng.
The more I hate this kid for not fighting, the more I want to scold him.
You said that you are already a famous general in the dynasty, and others regard you as Wang Weining's second best. You have a big backer like Zhang Zhou behind you, but you actually told me that you plan to follow orders and be led by others?
To say you have no ambition is putting it mildly.
"I'm going to bed." Zhu Feng said.
"Heartless..." Liu Jin muttered.
Zhu Feng asked: "What did Eunuch Liu say?"
"Oh, it's okay. I mean you need to rest early to prepare for fighting again in the future. It's best if there's no wind or waves." Liu Jin explained with a smile.
He doesn't have to be so polite to others. If he's sarcastic, he'll be sarcastic. How dare you brag about it and glare at me?
But for Zhu Feng...
Regardless of Zhu Feng's background, let's just say that he, Liu, is still waiting to make contributions to Zhu Feng. If he offends this big boss, he will not be able to do his job.
…
…
The three of them went to the capital and sent a horse to the capital.
Before sunset the next afternoon, the battle report reached the capital. The battle report clearly fell into the hands of Zhu Youtang, who was having dinner with his wife and children in Kunning Palace.
"Did you succeed? Okay."
Zhu Youtang smiled and looked at Dai Yi who came to deliver the message.
Zhu Houzhao on the side stared: "Is it Liu Jin? Just say that Liu Jin inherited the ambition of his son, so he must have won! Haha."
Zhu Youtang frowned.
As expected, this son is still uneducated, so he still inherits? Is Liu Jin your son’s grandson? Are you dead?
When Zhu Youtang opened the lead-sealed memorial to victory and saw the contents above, the smile on his face still did not diminish.
To the generals at Piantou Pass, the achievement of killing three people was really not worth mentioning, because they knew it would not have any impact on their titles.
But what mattered to the emperor was that Zhu Feng and Wang Qiong dared to send troops to fight as soon as they reached the Piantou Pass, and also "scared away" the Tatars. This was in line with his strategic intention of taking the initiative. As for killing Three people... That's just the icing on the cake, just like Zhu Hui and his five-pronged army suppressed Ordos in the fifteenth year of Hongzhi and suppressed a lonely person. Anyway, the result is achieved.
Otherwise, do we really expect a protracted war in the northwest and a decisive battle to determine the grassland?
"How, how?"
Zhu Houzhao looked eager next to him.
Zhu Xiurong sat there with a rice bowl in her hand, looking at her father and brother with curious eyes. At such a young age, she still didn't understand what this meant.
"Continue to eat!" Empress Zhang could not persuade her husband, so she could only persuade her son.
Zhu Youtang smiled and said: "It's good. We will send troops hundreds of miles away from Pianguan, and the Tatars will retreat in response to the situation. The Ming Dynasty will be stable at Pianguan and don't have to worry about the impact of the death of Marquis Weining. Then I can prepare to send troops to Hetao."
Zhu Houzhao blinked and asked, "How many Tatars were killed?"
"Three." Zhu Youtang said these words to his son.
"Three?" Zhu Houzhao almost flipped the table over when he heard this.
What's going on?
It was said so thrillingly, as if the northwest was about to be pacified, but in the end, three people were killed?
"Father, if my calculations are correct, there are at least 30,000 or 300,000 Tatars, right? Just kill three...can we really feel safe sending troops? Are we not afraid of their comeback?" Zhu Houzhao was very dissatisfied with this result.
Zhu Youtang said: "Do you think the use of troops is just fiddling with the abacus beads? Eat quickly, study the scriptures in the future, and pay less attention to the northwest battlefield! It's all Bingkuan who has led you astray! You don't think about it anymore. I won’t let him teach you about the art of war anymore because of your schoolwork! You can make up your own mind!"
